Ink or Sink
by pgasniper
Summary: In Inkopolis, an Inkling receives an invitation to come to the next Smash Bros. tournament.
1. Chapter 1: Ika the Inkling

**So... that surprise at the Nintendo Direct kind of blindsided me. I had kind of just woken up, and wasn't thinking that much. The first thought was "Wait, why is this like Splatoon 1's trailer? Are they bringing Splatoon 1 Subs and Specials to Splatoon 2... wait why is the screen getting darker... is this going to be a Splatoon spin off... OH MY GOD."**

 **So that happened.**

 **I had done a few stories like this for some of the newcomers for Smash 4. And with how much I love Splatoon, I wanted to do one for the Inklings. Although, I'm probably not going to do that for everyone. And I don't know what all is going to be in this story. It's kind of just something I'm quickly writing with no plans so we'll see where it goes.  
**

* * *

Chapter 1: Ika the Inkling

Turf War, a battle between two squads of four Inklings that lasts 3 minutes. It was a simple battle that anyone could join in and learn the rules of instantly. But a deceptively deep battle that took a lifetime to master. All the while opponents and the weapons that they use along with the stage that you're on may change, opening up new strategies by the second.

Battling in Turf War was an art, both figuratively and literally. Turf War was a battle of area control, marking the ground with ink. At the end of 3 minutes, Judd the cat would judge which team had covered the most ground to declare the victor, and with everything changing with every second, it wasn't over until the very end.

But in the end, the goal is always the same. Cover as much ink as you can in the arena, and cover more than your opponents do. Even if you cover a simple 0.01 percent more than them, you win. That's all there is to it.

Those were the thoughts of Ika the Inkling as she just won another battle. She had two long orange pigtails, and currently wore a white shirt, and bright pink shoes. The rest of her squad was cheering and congratulating themselves for a battle well done. "Good job guys, we did good today!"

"Right!" The others replied.

"I'll see you all again tomorrow!" Ika said. She was faking the cheerfulness, and it went by unnoticed by all of those in the squad. She just made here way towards the exit.

"We did really good today." One said. "Especially with that sponsor that was there watching us."

"We may be going to the big leagues soon!" Another said

Ika looked back at them a bit shocked. "A sponsor?" She had completely forgotten about that. For her squad's sake, she hoped that her boredom wasn't that noticeable, and hadn't distracted from her usual playing.

"Wanna hang out today?" One teammate asked. "We can go to a cafe."

"Sorry, but money is a bit tight." Ika said.

"Oh, well, maybe later than."

And with that, they all went their separate ways.

Ika just traveled through Inkopolis, a bustling metropolis that was the center of Inkling lifestyle, and to her apartment. When she got into her apartment she just closed the door and leaned against the wall.

She let off a heavy sigh and just collapsed. "Damn it." She muttered.

The rest of her day was spent just in her apartment, curled up in a ball underneath some blankets, binge watching some TV shows. She looked up at the clock and eventually decided to make dinner. A rather unhealthy choice of instant noodles.

"Is this just going to be my life going forwards..." She muttered to herself. She was about to return back to her couch to watch more TV when there was a knocking at the door.

She paused and waited a few more seconds. The inkling on the other side knocked again. She just put down her instant noodles and walked over to it looking through the peep hole. Standing outside of her apartment door was an older inkling dressed in white. She opened the door slightly. "Hello?" She asked.

"Hello." the Inkling said. "I was watching your turf war today. I guess you may of heard of me as the sponsor."

Ika just went white. "Yes?" She said rather afraid.

"You're the captain of that team, Ika, correct?" the Inkling asked.

"Yes..." She said once again, not exactly liking where this was going.

"Would it be okay if I came in and we could talk over some tea." the Inkling said.

Ika just nodded. She fully opened the door and welcomed the Inkling in. She began to boil some water for some tea. "Do you mind what flavor?" She asked.

"Oh no, anything is fine." He said.

After a few minutes she brought the tea to him. She sat down at the table, and they just began to slowly sip it in.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Master J Hand." He said.

"Mr. Hand?"

"Just Master Hand is fine. Anyways, I guess you've probably heard the rumors of someone going around looking for Inklings to sign on to a deal."

"Yeah." Ika replied. "It's been pretty big news recently. A lot of Inklings have been doing their best to try and stand out."

"Yeah, I noticed." Master Hand replied. "Word does seem to travel fast here. And, well, I was observing your matches today." Ika felt her heart skip a beat. "Am I correct in assuming you are rather bored with your current situation?"

Internally Ika was screaming, and she wished nothing more than to just bang her head against the wall. " _Oh god, I screwed up everything, my team is going to hate me! Crap, crap, crap..._ "

"I... well... I..." she paused and tried to collect her thoughts. "If I say yes, will this affect my team?" Ika asked. "I don't want them to suffer because of me."

"Oh, no, they won't." He replied. "After all, I was only looking for a single Inkling."

"A single inkling?" Ika said confused. "But how, or why? A squad is composed of four Inklings. Unless, you already have 3 other Inklings and were just looking for someone to fill the gap..."

Master Hand paused. He blinked a few times a bit confused. A few moments later he realized what was going on. "Oh no. There seems to be a misunderstanding in what I'm looking for." He said. "You see, I'm not looking for a squad. I'm looking for a single Inkling, one that can battle in much different fights than turf wars."

Ika just looked at the Inkling. "Different Fights than Turf Wars?"

The Inkling just smiled and nodded. He pulled out an envelope, on it was a red wax seal with a circle and an offset cross. "And, when I saw you fighting today, I knew that you were the one. This is a fighting tournament. Welcome to the Smashers." He put the envelope down on the table and pushed it over to Ika. "Of course you have to accept, and there's a bit of paper work to do, but..."

Ika just took the envelope in her hands, and opened it. She read the letter and was just shaking in anticipation.

There was suddenly a ringtone. "Excuse me for a second." Master Hand said. He just reached into his suit and pulled out his cell phone. He stepped out into the hall. "Yes, I found one, I've proposed the idea, she's reading it over." There was a brief pause. "Wait, you never told me that! What!? Brother, I'm going to have some stern words with you when I get back!"

He just came back in looking rather defeated. A few seconds later he tried to make himself presentable, as he sat back down at the table. "If you still need time, I realize this is a big commitment, and you probably need time to think it over, so I can leave you my cell phone number."

Ika just nodded. "Yeah... There's quite a bit here to think about." She said. "I would like a little bit more time."

"Of course, and if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask." Master Hand said.

Ika nodded. "Yeah..." She paused for several seconds. "I guess my first question is; will I still have time for my team here?"

"Oh, yes, of course." Master Hand replied. "You can come back whenever you want, your schedule is printed well in advanced. Although some people still prefer staying at the mansion just for convenience's sake."

Ika nodded. "All right." She said. "If I have any further questions, I guess I'll call you."

"Thanks. I look forwards to hearing your decision."

The two shook hands and Master Hand walked out. When he was a few blocks away he just grumbled in frustration. "Why didn't you tell me sooner I needed two?! It's taken me weeks to find one!"

* * *

 **Ika, although she shares the same name with another Inkling in my other stories, is not the same one. (Same with Ink if/when he shows up.)**


	2. Chapter 2: Convincing

**I have nothing up here for once... Let's write this up and get back to the splatfest...**

* * *

Chapter 2: Convincing

A few weeks had passed. Master Hand, who was originally understanding about Ika's apprehension on accepting the invitation, was now getting a bit annoyed. He had answered any questions that she had to the best of his ability, but even now she was still hesitating.

"I just don't know." She repeated once again.

Once again Master Hand was sitting in her kitchen, just silently drinking tea across from her. The hand knew that he couldn't force the decision, and that she had to accept it herself, however he was on a deadline and was getting nowhere fast. He decided that he had to speed up the process somehow.

"How about this." Master Hand said. "What if, you come to an open house and see what its all about."

Ika thought about it for several moments. "Actually... maybe that would be a good idea. I can see what it actually is..."

"Excellent!" Master Hand said. "How does this weekend sound?"

"Well there's that Splatfest for the Chicken or the Egg..." Ika said. "And my squad was hoping to do several matches together and..."

Master Hand just let off a heavy sigh. "Just, what day is free for you?"

Ika just paused and thought about it for a few moments, even pulling out her cell phone and checking her week. "Well, there's season 5 of that one show being released tomorrow and I was planning on binging it so I didn't stumble across spoilers online... There's also that Squid Sisters reunion tour. Off the Hook's new songs are dropping... Yeah I'm booked until the end of the month."

Master Hand had lost control of his inkling disguise, becoming a liquid squid, before eventually regaining his composure and returning back to the humanoid appearance. He just pulled out his cell phone and began to scroll through various pictures. "I should have gone with that Rex person." he muttered, eventually looking back up at Ika. "Well, Ika, I understand that this is not an easy choice. And that you're busy, and you have your own schedule. Just... I can't keep delaying this, and if you continue to push it off, I'm going to have to pass over you."

He turned the cell phone right towards Ika, so that the she could see the image. On it was a brown haired boy dressed in blue diving gear with a diving helmet that currently was just hanging off his back. The only other notable thing about him was a green X gem in his chest. She just looked at the photo and stared at it for several seconds taking it in.

"Wait... what?" was Ika's first reaction. "What is this? They don't look like an inkling!"

Master Hand was actually a bit surprised by this reaction. The script that he had mentally prepared for what he was going to say next was immediately lost.

Up to this point, he had sensed that she was feigning interest. But now, Ika was genuinely curious about the boy in the picture.

"This boy's name is Rex." Master Hand said, he paused for a few moments but when Ika didn't interject he continued. "And this tournament, I don't think I described it that well. I am not from this world. This form that I'm currently in is just a disguise."

He got off the chair and stepped out into the open kitchen. A moment later he reformed into a giant white glove. "This is my true form."

Ika was speechless. She had just put down her tea cup and was shaking, either in fear or excitement. Either way, Master Hand couldn't tell.

"Your opponents won't just be other inklings, they will be others from across different worlds. Such as Rex here." Master Hand explained.

He reverted back to his Inkling disguise and just sat down once again. Ika was just sitting there trying to process it. "However, your only chance of knowing these other worlds are if you accept." He had also failed to mention that if she declined, then her memories of this offer, and of him and the other worlds would be erased.

"All right." Ika said. "Let's do it! I wanna go to this open house! I can do it after the splatfest."

Master Hand just looked at her rather shocked. "Excellent! That's good! However, between then and now you can't tell anyone."

"Alright!" she said.

"I'll contact you with further details on how you're getting to the open house." Master Hand said.

The two walked away from that meeting rather happy. Master Hand being glad that some progress had been made, and looking forwards to the future and hopefully not worrying about finding another Inkling after he had already directed so much time to Ika.

Ika was just suddenly excited and interested with who were these other combatants in this tournament? What kind of worlds were they from? So much that she was having difficulty falling asleep at night. She tossed and turned in bed as her mind was just constantly jumping around, wondering just who these people could be.

* * *

Ika, and her squad had just finished a battle. The four of them just made their way out to some vending machines and they got some drinks. After they drank them, they just rested on some benches to recover their stamina before they decided to go in for their next Turf War.

"You're unusually focused today!" One of her teammates said.

"Yep." Ika replied.

"Why though?"

"I just want to be in tip top shape for the Splatfest."

"You're that excited for a Chicken VS The Egg Splatfest?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"You weren't even pumped up for Money VS Love. How could this Splatfest actually interest you?"

"Let's face it, white ink." Another teammate chimed in.

Ika just shrugged. "Well, no... not that... Wait, I thought we agreed on Team Egg?!"

They just laughed. "Yeah we are. But still, why the sudden interest in Splatfest?"

"I just need something to distract myself since I guess that sponsor had passed over our team." Ika replied.

The others looked down defeated. "Oh yeah... right..."

"So, let's place high in the Splatfest!" Ika said. "If we're in the Splatfest top 100, maybe they'll notice us!"

"You sure?"

"Well, yeah, you haven't heard of anyone being signed on to a sponsorship deal and a professional team right?" Ika wondered.

"No... Although those things would be under a NDA until an announcement is made..." One pointed out.

"Well, even if another team was signed on under that, there are always more sponsors looking, so I think we're fine." Ika laughed. "Besides, I think I was too focused on that, that it was impacting playing! Let's just have fun out there!"

"Yeah!" the squad said in unison, getting up off of the benches and towards the tower ready to enter into their next turf war.

Ika paused for a moment, just staying behind as her friends walked ahead. Deep within her mind, she was pondering something, but quickly shook it off. " _Yeah, let's just enjoy the time that we have together._ " She said to herself.

* * *

 **The character mentioned in this chapter, Rex, is from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And is one of the characters I'd like to see in the next Smash. Just I have no idea if that's too recent since it only came out last year at the beginning of December.  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Ink the Inkling

**Kind of didn't know how to continue, kind of did. I wrote a bit, that became part of chapter 4. And then the other inkling Ink showed up and... I decided that yes, I needed to introduce the other inkling Ink in here first...  
**

* * *

Chapter 3: Ink the Inkling

For many inklings, coming to the city was supposed to be a change in lifestyle. For some just escaping the confines of their previous life in the countryside was enough. But for others they wanted more. They wanted to be famous squids in the Turf War scene. Just tearing up the rankings and getting paid.

In order to reach higher they would do anything. There was an item known as a super sea snail, it could be used to reroll the stats of various pieces of gear. However they were in short supply.

That's where the shady underworld and super sea snail smugglers came in. They would obtain super sea snails and for a small fee you would be able to buy them. It probably wouldn't be uncommon to find high rank professional inklings to have connections to the seedy underground. Needing that extra super sea snail to reroll the gear and try to get one with the three perfect bonuses.

Even when it was revealed that the super sea snail supply was less constrained than previously thought, and they became more readily available, the super sea snail smugglers persisted and we're still able to make a rather decent living, as some inklings had no problem skipping the grind to obtain them.

Which brings us to Ink, just a simple Inkling who moved in from the countryside trying to make a living for himself at Inkopolis through turf wars. However he quickly came to a stark realization, he was incredibly mediocre and in the tough, fast paced, world of turf wars, he didn't have what it takes to get out on top.

And then reality set in. He soon realized that moving to the city and leaving behind your previous life, not to mention your parents, meant that you had to fend for yourself and pay bills for the apartment, along with having to buy food in order to be able to eat. Not to mention membership fees to the turf war club, purchasing your own personal weapons or renting them out, and keeping up date with a fresh wardrobe of clothing. And internet, cable, cell phone bill, the list goes on.

He didn't plan ahead and had quickly ran out of money. This left him in a rather desperate situation where he was willing to do nearly anything to get some extra cash.

Perhaps sensing his desperation, or just taking advantage of his situation, he was recruited by a super sea snail smuggler.

The job was pretty easy for a decent amount of pay, he just had to pick up a package and deliver it to a locker. From there on he'd get paid for his involvement and then just hang low for a little bit. In at least got him enough money to pay 3 months worth of rent and that allowed him before a bit of extra time to find out what he wanted to do.

However, things had taken a turn for the worse. Several inklings had appeared at his apartment. "Hello?" He said opening the door.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our favorite inkling, Ink." They said inviting themselves in. There were three in total.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Ink nervously laughed, keeping a close eye on all three of the shady inklings.

"Ink, buddy, pal. We have another job for you." One said. The threatening undertone was not lost on him. "Just a simple delivery of a package in some lockers."

"Okay, I can do that." Ink said.

"Ahhh, good. We were hoping you would."

"Which locker?"

"We'll send the details later." The inkling said. "Watch your mail."

Ink just nodded, and they left the apartment.

He just made his way over to his cabinet and pulled out a cup, and quickly began to pour himself a drink from his fridge. He looked at all the places that the other inklings were looking, seeing if anything had been placed or had been taken. But it was all fine.

He just sat down in a chair and let off a heavy sigh. At the time, he was desperate for money, and didn't know it would lead to this. He had heard about the job from someone else, but then later found out that if you backed out, they would have pictures of you smuggling the Super Sea Snails. You'd then be blackmailed into doing whatever they wanted.

At best, Ink felt that he could act like he didn't know how deep he was in, or how screwed he actually was. Just play up that clueless country bumpkin, which seemed to have worked out so far.

It just had the side effect of completely stressing him out.

"They're going to kill me... I need to get out of here!" Ink had gone white. "Maybe get somewhere else where they'll never find me... But how..."

He looked at his Turf War gear. If nothing else, he felt that maybe some turf wars could help calm him down and get his mind off of things. He just grabbed his gear and ran off.

For a little while he was able to keep his mind off of everything, and splat really well. At least until invasive thoughts entered his head and he began to panic once again.

After a few screw ups, and a losing streak that began to negatively impact him, he decided to call it a day.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll even bother with splatfest tonight." He muttered to himself.

He just packed up his gear, and decided to take the long way back to his apartment not wanting to get there and see that a letter was waiting for him on the details of the job. Secretly he was hoping that he could just disappear. And then through some strange coincidence, his prayers were answered.

"How am I supposed to find another Inkling..." An inkling that he passed by muttered to himself. "Especially one that's willing to move to a new place by tonight..."

Ink just froze, that inkling talking to himself, everything about it seemed too good to be true, and it probably was. But he was desperate enough to take that chance.

"Hey!" Ink shouted. "I couldn't help but overhear you talking to yourself."

The inkling just froze and turned around to face Ink.

"My name is Ink, and I think I'm the inkling you're looking for!" Ink laughed.

"Really?" The inkling questioned.

"Yep, total Rank X potential right here!" Ink laughed crossing his arms into an X shape. "I'm the real Inksperience!"

The inkling just glared at him, having already seen through his act. "If you do another pun like that I won't even attempt to hire you to humor you." He bluntly said.

Ink was shaken.

"Its that obvious, huh?" Ink asked.

"Pretty blatant." The inkling replied. "Look, my name is Master Hand, and I'll tell you right now you'd have a better chance if you were honest."

Ink just blinked a few times. "Master Hand?" he questioned. "That's a weird name. Well, I'm Ink."

"Well, I can almost say that's a little more imaginative than Squid." Master Hand muttered. "All right, now why don't you tell me, why do you want to do this, and remember, be honest."

"I just need to get out of here." Ink replied. "I got in with the wrong crowd, and things are bad. I don't want to do this anymore, and if I back out I'm dead okay... I don't want to do this anymore! Anywhere is better than here! Please help me! I'll do anything!" Ink just broke down and begged, he fell on the ground and grabbed Master Hand's legs.

Master Hand just looked around. There was already someone following at a distance watching this Inkling. "I hate having blood on my hands." He muttered snapping his fingers.

The next moment they were teleported away.

Ink noticed that something had suddenly changed. It was no longer cold. They had somehow gotten indoors. "What just happened..." Ink wondered.

Master Hand didn't reply. Ink looked around and saw a few other people. They were rather strange looking. There were two kids who looked about his age, they were wearing striped shirts. One was wearing a baseball hat, while the other just had his hair slicked up.

There was another blonde person wearing a red vest and a sweater. On his back was a red sword. There were about 10 other people already in this ship.

Most of the passengers didn't pay him much mind, they looked at him and then continued go about their business. Except for a pair of boys in striped shirts who were previously talking to themselves. They paused and just stared at Ink for a few seconds and then they tried saying something.

However Ink couldn't understand. To him they were just talking gibberish. He opened up his mouth to speak and tell them he didn't understand, but they just stared at him blankly.

The young blonde haired boy stood up and walked over to Master Hand. The inkling just let off a heavy sigh. "Did I really forget that?" He asked. The boy nodded.

Master Hand just snapped his fingers. There was a brief glow around Ink. The next thing Ink knew was that he could understand everyone. They were no longer talking gibberish. He just looked around afraid, startled, and confused.

"Hey." The boy with the baseball cap, who had been talking to the other boy stepped forwards. "Now that you can understand us, I'm Ness!"

"I'm Ink." Ink replied.

Ness laughed. "Here, come sit down, it looks like you've got quite a bit to take in."

Ink just nodded, and the other boy who had talked to the inkling walked over and sat back down in his chair. "Um... Hello..." He quietly stuttered out. "I'm Lucas."

"We were told that we'd be the ones looking over you, helping you adjust, answering any questions you may have during this open house." Ness said. "So, all I can say is ask away."

"Yeah, right." Ink said letting off a heavy sigh. "So, where are we going?"

"Well, it's a whole 'nother planet." Ness laughed. "Right now you're just on one of our ships."

"I see." Ink replied.

"We can show you around."

Ink just nodded, he didn't actually need the tour due to being able to use echolocation, and already he had a pretty good rundown of what the ship was like, but he was bored, and it seemed like they wanted to do something. Not to mention, it didn't seem like they were taking off any time soon.

The three of them just walked around the ship. "If you think this is big, just wait until you see the mansion!" Ness laughed.

Ink didn't know if it was just Ness' constant joyful personality, or something else, but he was just beginning to feel like all of his worries were drifting away. Sensing that he was getting more comfortable with the situation, they began to ask Ink some questions which he happily answered.

"What was your world like?" Lucas wondered.

"Oh, well, we do this sport called Turf Wars." Ink replied. "We use our ink to mark territory, and at the end of 3 minutes, well Judd the cat, judges who has more area covered."

"So, essentially a combination of capture the hill and paintball." Ness said. "Interesting."

They continued the tour, until eventually they came to a room where inside Master Hand was talking about something. Ness just put a finger over his mouth signalling for them to stay quiet and they listened in.

"Wolf, I have some dirty work." Master Hand said. "It seems that our one inkling that I had picked up wasn't exactly the cleanest and straightest of arrows. So, can you find out what this gang is, what they do, and possibly take care of them?"

"I guess." someone replied. "The usual conditions and pay."

"Of course."

"All right then, I'll begin investigating." the voice replied.

Ink just went white. "Oh cod, what did I get myself into."

"Interesting, you were in a gang?" Ness said. Ink had just frozen, forgetting about them being right there. "Boy that brings back memories."

"Wait, you were in a gang?"

"No, I just took one down in my hometown all by myself." Ness replied.

Ink was doing his best to maintain his human form. Right now he wanted nothing more to just turn into liquid and slide away. "What sort of den of monsters did I find..."

"Of course, that's nothing compared to Lucas here." Ness laughed. "He took down an army that took over the island he lived on!"

Ink just nervously looked over at Lucas. The young psychic just let off a sigh. "Ness, can't you see you're making him nervous. He's getting the wrong idea."

Ness let off a friendly laugh. "I know, it's fun though. Don't worry about it, Lucas wouldn't hurt a fly! Unless of course you're in the ring, then it's a different story!" Ness just gave a friendly slap to Ink's back, at least that's what he intended. Due to his nerves, he was barely able to maintain his physical state and consequently Ness' hand actually went into him.

Ness' eyes widened in horror. Lucas' followed suit. It took Ink a few seconds to realize what had happened and just quickly jumped away. The two however were staring in shock at Ness' hand and the blue ink that was now on it.

"I'm sorry!" Ness began to apologize. "Did I hurt you? Here I can heal you."

"You're hand was in him!" Lucas was panicking.

"I'm fine..." Ink managed to say. "Just a little surprised."

"Are you sure?" Ness questioned.

"Yes, of course!" Ink replied. "I'm guessing I'm the first Inkling you've encountered?"

"Inkling?" Ness asked.

"Yeah, that's what I am." Ink replied. "And well, I have two forms I guess... This form, and then this form!" Ink suddenly transformed into a squid.

The two just looked at Ink and watched as he transformed back into his human form. "That's what we Inklings are..."

They were both shocked. "That's so cool!" They both shouted out.

Ink could only stare dumbfounded at them. "What?"

"So that's your ability!" Ness replied. "Neat!"

"Ability!?"

"Did Master Hand explain anything?" Lucas questioned.

"No..."

"Well, don't worry about anything!" Ness laughed. "You're going to fit right in!"

"Everyone's going to like you, I just know it!" Lucas added on.

"I hope so…" Ink muttered, beginning to have second thoughts about this.

"I can't wait to fight against you though!" Ness said.

Ink just froze. "Wait, fight?!" He questioned. "Like in a Turf War?"

"Well, not exactly." Ness replied. He stretched out his hand so that his palm was facing upwards. Suddenly a fire appeared out of nowhere. "Lucas and I are psychic, and you've been invited to join the Smash Bros. a fighting tournament where people from different worlds, and all walks of life fight."

"Yes, I hadn't exactly gotten the time to explain everything to you." Master Hand said, having heard them and exited out of the room. "Mainly because of that person who was trailing you, and I decided to act quickly."

"Yeah, and thanks for th-" Ink had turned around, instead of seeing the Inkling that he thought was 'Master Hand' he just saw a giant glove. He just let out a scream of terror, and fainted.

Ness just let off a heavy sigh. "He's going to be a piece of work, isn't he?"

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **I wanted a contrast between the two inklings. Ika who is unsure but want's to stay and needs that push, and is that talented kind of person that Master Hand was looking for. While Ink wants to escape, but doesn't necessarily have the talent himself.**

 **Super sea snails smugglers, I mainly did it for the alliteration. Though there is kind of an explanation for it. In splatoon 1, initially, Super Sea Snails were limited, only being rewarded after splatfests. Or if you paid an NPC 30,000G. People would copy their save data to a hard drive, and then start rolling super sea snails. If they got the bonuses they want, they'd continue. If the RNG was less than kind, they'd copy the save data back onto the Wii U, and roll again. I just went with smugglers to explain how inklings would be able do that in universe.**

 **My headcanon with how the inkling squid/kid form works is well, they have complete control over it and can change at will, and most of the time it's just second nature to them, but if something scares or surprises them, they briefly lose concentration and consequently lose their solidity, although may keep their kid shape instead of reverting back to a squid.**


	4. Chapter 4: Tension

Chapter 4: Tension

Splatfest was still going on, but Ika had finished fighting with her squad and had ranked up to the rank of Egg Queen. After several more fights with her friends, they called it a night. They had battled enough to get a few more slots filled on their Splatfest Tees, and scrubbing theme once again to get the ability chunks. This was a rather common practice since Murch, a small urchin, liked to do it a bit cheaper under the table, but only on the Splatfest Tee.

Her friends danced to a few of Off The Hook's songs, and she took a few moments to appreciate the various art that was posted up on the banners. But even after she danced a bit, she decided it was finally time to call it a night saying goodbye, and would let them know when she was ready to splat again.

She finally texted Master Hand saying that she was ready to leave to go to the open house.

Within a few minutes, Master Hand was there to pick her up. He just snapped his fingers, and then they were teleported onto a ship.

She looked around.

"Is this the final person here?" Someone asked. Ink was a bit taken aback by the small yellow creature. She blinked a few times rather confused by it.

"Yes Pikachu," Master Hand replied. "We'll get ready to set off. Ika, it will take a few minutes, until we're ready to set off. Right now we're just doing some preliminary checks so, just talk with everyone and introduce yourself."

"Okay, thanks." Ika said. She just looked around however it didn't seem like anyone who was there was all that interested in her. There were a few who were just looking out the windows at the various fireworks and festivities that were going on outside.

Ika just walked over to a window and saw that they were parked on top of a building, looking down below at Inkopolis Square.

"They look like they're having fun down there." A voice said. Ika was caught by surprise, and jumped. She turned to see a boy with brown hair and wearing a blue and gold outfit, on his back a strange sword was hoisted onto his waist. Suspended on the back of the collar of his shirt was a diving helmet. She realized that this was the very same boy that Master Hand had shown her on his cell phone when they had previously met. He was also looking down at the splatfest. "What is this party?"

"It's called Splatfest." Ika replied. "You choose a team, and fight. And then in the end, a side wins. Although there's a bunch of inklings that just enjoy the party. I'm Ika, who are you?"

"I'm Rex." The boy replied. "And I was also invited to this open house."

There was someone else beside him. He had blonde hair, and was wearing a red vest with a black sweater underneath it. On his back was a giant red sword. "And you are?" Ika wondered.

"I'm Shulk." he replied. "I'm one of the Smashers, and Rex's chaperone. There was supposed to be one for you as well, but I don't know where they went to."

"Well, gotta say, it seems pretty fun down there." Rex laughed. "Kind of wish I could go and join in."

Ika let off a heavy sigh. "It is. Although with this open house, I'll be missing the splatfest results."

"Chicken will win." Shulk replied.

"What? Why!? How do you know that?"

"Shulk can see the future." Master Hand explained, having shed his inkling disguise once again, and just floated over to Ika.

Ika was just shaking. Suddenly she realized just what sort of people she was facing in this tournament. She was excited, against an opponent who could see the future, and could fight with that knowledge, she never had fought against an opponent like that.

However her excitement was cut off by a loud laugh. "What!? Really! All right!" Ink just shouted excited. "Yeah! So, the team I chose won! Although, I haven't done any battles, so I won't be getting very many super sea snails..."

Ika just was staring at the blue inkling who had just ran up to the window. She was a bit surprised that there was another inkling.

"And just who are you?" Ika asked.

"I'm Ink!" The other inkling replied. "And I'll be the one taking this job, thank you very much!"

"Oh yeah?" Ika shouted back rather annoyed. "I was told that they only needed one Inkling, so I'm going to ace this test and leave you in the dust!"

Master Hand just looked at them a bit surprised. "Um, actually, there was a small miscommunication. My brother failed to inform me that I needed two Inklings." He tried to say. However his explanation fell on deaf ears.

"Oh this is great!" Ness laughed.

Master Hand just sighed. He looked over at Ness and Lucas. "Right, anyways, I guess you two are the chaperones of the two inklings."

"Really?" Lucas said a bit nervous.

"If only Nana and Popo were here." Ness replied in the driest voice he could muster, while glaring at Master Hand. "Surely, they would be able to connect easier."

"Ness, we've been through this..." Master Hand grumbled. "You're all kids, I'd feel that they'd be better if they were with someone their own age. Just do your best okay."

"Nana and Popo could have done this." Ness replied. "I'm like one of the original 12, I'm not supposed to be doing this grunt work. I should be able to pull seniority."

Master Hand floated there rather annoyed. "Look, Nana and Popo aren't here."

"Because you let them go for the last tournament." Ness replied.

"Ness that was beyond my control..." Master Hand muttered.

"But yeah, sure, I'll keep doing this. I'll keep trying to make friends with the kids my age. And watch as they don't return after a tournament or two." Ness replied rather bitter. "You're what? 4.5 out of 7 now? Or 8 if we count me? Not exactly a good retention rate for the kids."

Lucas just glanced between the two. He had noticed the tension between the two ever since he had returned later than the others for the previous tournament.

"Is Lucas' invitation going to get 'lost' again even though he's doing this?" Ness wondered.

"Ness," Lucas muttered. "Maybe you should drop this..."

"Look," Master Hand replied. "Some things are just out of my control, okay? You're just acting as their guides and answering any questions that they may have. Just make sure that they don't get into trouble, and aren't at each other's throats."

However Ness and Master Hand were suddenly brought out of their little spat from Ika and Ink's conversation escalating.

"Oh yeah, that's exactly what I'd expect from someone who supports Team Chicken!" Ika shouted. "Unless you did it for the white ink, you pervert!"

"What was that?!" Ink replied. "How could there be any eggs if there weren't any chickens?"

"Kids, please, everyone knows that the egg came first." Pikachu said, having walked over. "In the void of nothing there was just a single egg, and from it emerged our lord and savior Arceus where they created the universe and everything in it."

Shulk looked at everyone. "Really? My world was created after the destruction of an old universe after a scientist went insane and tried to become a god. He was reborn as the Bionis and created living creatures on it to use as a host even killing me and using my body as a vessel for 10 plus years until he got out and I killed him."

Everyone just stared rather blankly at Shulk. "You've got some serious issues." Pikachu said.

"Says the rat that thinks the universe was created by a llama and it's thousand hands."

Rex was just staring in shock at Shulk. "Well in my world-" However he was cut off from finishing that sentence by a sudden announcement.

"We are ready for take off." A voice over a speaker said. "Please get in your seats, and get ready to go to our next destination!"

Master Hand just let off a heavy sigh taking the break that he was just granted. "All right everyone, to your seats, you heard the announcement."

"What are we, in grade school?" Ness replied.

As everyone else was walking back to their seats, Master Hand held Ness back. "Well, maybe you'd like to go back there, given how you're acting." Master Hand replied.

"They're just going to be gone after a tournament too, right?" Ness laughed. "I don't see the reason for this. Why should I be acting nice?"

"If it means anything, I've been told that the higher ups want these inklings no matter what, and using their own words they are 'hot shit', they aren't going to be going anywhere any time soon. Just behave, okay. Because if they aren't with us, things are going to get a lot harder for all of us."

Ness just ignored Master Hand and walked back to his seat, where Lucas was currently sitting between Ink and Ika. They were however still kind of at each other's throats, now with Lucas in between them and growing more and more uncomfortable with each passing second.

He just sat down, and raised his feet up, kicking the seat in front of him not caring who was in it. "So, Luke, you get Ika, I get Ink? That sound okay?"

"I guess." Lucas replied.

"Great." Ness laughed. "Good luck! I think I'm going to have a bit of fun."

* * *

 **I kind of just went screw it, it's my story, I can put Rex in here if I want. And, since I made it so that so that they're attending an open house if he isn't in Smash, something came up, or he refused it for some reason. That being said, I'm probably going to be dancing around Xenoblade 2 spoilers, since it's fairly new.  
**

 **Ness, as a character that's been there from the start, and as a child, I'm envisioning him here as a character who is afraid now of making friends, because he's afraid that he's going to lose them. (Plus the joys of puberty in there) The 4.5 out of 7 referring to pretty much everyone in his age range being gone. Young Link, Nana, Popo, Red, Lucas. The point 5 being that Lucas was DLC.** ** **Villager, and Toon Link, as of this writing we have no idea if they're in or not.  
****

 **Inklings are 14ish, since that's when they are fully grown, and able to control their form at will.**

 **On that note... Rex's age isn't really stated. Just that he's not old enough to drink. So I guess under 19. (At least that's the drinking age where I'm from) Even one province over it's 18. So, I kind of see him as a 15 year old.  
**


	5. Chapter 5: A little rain

**Me: You know, I think that would be a good theme with a story arc around Ness and his frustrations of constantly gaining and losing friends in Smash Bros. Yeah, let's try and write that.  
**

 **Nintendo: Hahaha, that's cute! Everyone is back!**

 **Me: Even Pichu? Even Young Link?  
**

 **Nintendo: WHAT PART OF EVERYONE DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO DO THIS?  
**

 **Square Enix: *coughs***

 **So, yeah** ** **E3 happened... (And I guess an August Smash Direct... And the September direct... and the November direct with all the characters announced... and Smash is only a few days away... I need to write faster...)**. I guess that changes my plans for Ness... ******it was originally just going to be ambiguous whether or not people would be coming back. (Since I'm not psychic and I don't work within Nintendo so have no way of actually knowing beyond what information Nintendo puts out) But yeah...** Which was about the only real thing I had thought out since everything else about this story is kind of just free form and I just write what kind of comes to mind.**

* * *

Chapter 5: A little rain...

By the time that they had nearly arrived at the Smash Mansion, Ink and Ika were still at each other's throats, and perhaps they had gotten even more hostile. Lucas' attempts to diffuse them had failed. And Ness had just pulled out his cell phone and was playing some games on it, ignoring them and just letting things escalate further and further.

"This is terrible!" Lucas muttered.

"I know!" Ness replied. "I'm never going to get any decent units under this banner. I'm just going to be wasting all my orbs..."

Lucas just glared at Ness rather frustrated and unsure what to do.

At this point, it was a surprise that the fight between the two inklings hadn't gotten physical.

"I thought I could never meet someone who's opinion is so wrong!" Ink asked. "All your splatfest choices were trash! Did you just go and choose what all you friends were and follow the crowd?!"

"What about you, just choosing everything half hearted?!" Ika wondered.

Frustrated, and fed up with the two of them fighting and being caught in the middle, Lucas just let out a burst of PK Freeze. "Cool down!" He shouted.

Ink and Ika just both looked at him rather surprised, and were shocked at the kid's ability to summon ice at will.

"Stop being at each other's throats!" Lucas shouted. "Ness you're not helping!"

"Hmmm?" Ness questioned, currently having his earphones in and listening to some music.

Curious, Ika just began looking all over Lucas, grabbing his hands and inspecting for any spot where the ice had come from. Lucas was taken aback and rather surprised by this. "What?!" He quickly squeaked out.

"How did you do that? Make that ice appear?" Ika wondered.

Ink was also looking at Lucas too. "He doesn't seem to have any mechanism..." Ink muttered.

"I just can." Lucas replied. He held out his hand a bit and kept it facing up right so that they could see. Suddenly a shimmering snow flake appeared above it. He just passed it between his hands. "Ness and I fight with psychic powers. He usually uses PK Fire and PK Rockin, while I use PK Freeze and PK Love."

"Wait!" Ink muttered. "You fight with psychic powers?"

"Yes." Lucas replied. "Everyone fights differently, some with their swords, some with their bare hands. What do you guys fight with?"

The two of them were just rather surprised, and perhaps for the first time even gave it some thought. "I guess that'd be our turf war weapons." Ink eventually replied.

"Neat!" Lucas said. "Well, can't wait to see how you fight in person. But just to let you know, I won't be holding back either..."

For the moment, that seemed to do the trick. Both Ink and Ika were now lost in thoughts, wondering who they would be fighting in this tournament. Lucas breathed a sigh of relief as he could finally enjoy some peace and quiet.

* * *

Eventually they had arrived at the Smash Mansion. The ship that they were in, the Pleiades, had parked outside a fair distance from the mansion and required about a 5 minute walk.

However, it was raining. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, however for the Inklings, this was rather serious, as they have a small tendency to dissolve in water.

They only noticed that it was raining right as they were about to exit the ship, and the two of them just froze in front of everybody.

"Hey, what's the hold up?" A long blond haired woman dressed in a rather revealing, short, white, black, gold, and green dress said.

Rex just looked over at her. "Mythra..."

"You know her?" Ness questioned.

"Oh, yes, she's my partner." Rex replied.

"What?!" Ness flatly said, just looking at Rex then back at Mythra, then back at Rex once again. "How?"

"Come on, just get out. Some of us have places to be!" Mythra replied.

"We can't." Ika said rather terrified.

"Come on a little rain never hurt anyone!" Ness laughed.

"Oh yes it has." Ink replied.

The two of them just backed away from the door, confusing the rest of the Smashers aboard.

"You guys are acting like you'll melt." Mythra said.

"That's because we will!" Ink replied.

Ness just looked rather shocked.

"We're Inklings, we can transform into ink and travel through it, however other liquids dilute us, and well, we dissolve." Ika replied.

"Oh no." Lucas muttered, already sensing what Ness would do with this new information.

A smile just crossed Ness' face. "'Oh no' is right. This is serious. Plus in the battles, how would that work with the stages with water... You'd be at a severe disadvantage there..." Of course, Ness already knew that the water wasn't exactly real on the stages, and things such as that would be ignored so that they'd be fighting on even ground.

"There's an umbrella that we can get." Lucas said reaching for closet where the umbrella hung.

Ness however got there first and had grabbed it. He channeled some PK Fire right through it, causing it to immediately be set ablaze and turn to ash. "Oops, my finger slipped." Ness replied. "Looks like we have to go back to their homes."

Mythra just turned to Rex, rather fed up with this hold up. "Rex strip."

"What?!" Rex shouted rather surprised. Everyone else was just looking at Rex and Mythra rather shocked.

"I don't think this is the time or place for that..." Shulk said, stepping between the two.

"Give them your diving suit. They can wear it and then take it off once they get to the mansion." Mythra replied. "I don't know what you guys were thinking, you perverts."

"Oh." Rex laughed. "I see. Well I guess I can do that." He began to reach for numerous spots on some of his clothes to begin to take them off.

"No, we can just wait until the rain stops..." Ika said, stopping Rex. "Besides, how would the diving suit get back, only one of us can wear it?"

Ness just laughed. "Yeah, plus then you'd also have to worry about the water inside..."

"Water inside? Does the building leak?"

"Not exactly." Ness replied. "Just there's Toon Link, he's quite the prankster. Putting bucket's of water on the top of doors, waiting for someone to come in and get drenched with water. He could accidentally kill you guys, you know."

The two inklings just began to panic.

"Plus I guess there's the random water gun fights..." Ness said.

"For normal people this place is rather safe, but for you, it could be a death trap."

The next thing Ness knew was that he was suddenly being pulled away by the collar on his shirt. A few moments later he was let go, and standing in front of him was Shulk.

Shulk didn't look too amused. "I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work." He said.

"Oh really? And just what does 'Mr. I can see the future' see?" Ness wondered.

"Whether you like it or not, they're here to stay." Shulk replied. "Corporate want's them here, and they will stay here."

"Oh goody." Ness growled. "Corporate made more decisions without actually asking or figuring out how we feel or how it impacts us."

"You know even if you push them away so that they choose not to come here, we just came from a whole planet of Inklings, they will easily be replaced." Shulk pointed out. "There's nothing you can do to actually overturn this decision."

"And aren't you the one always saying that the future isn't set in stone?" Ness wondered.

"Yes, but-"

"Then don't lecture me." Ness replied, he turned around and was about to march away to rejoin the group.

"I think you need time to calm down and think things through clearly." Shulk said. He grabbed the Monado and activated it. With a swing of the sword he sent a wave of green ether at Ness. It just hit the boy, and he he suddenly was disoriented, before eventually falling unconscious. "Because I think in the future, you're going to regret acting like this."

Shulk just let off a heavy sigh and lifted up the younger teen and carried him back to the group.

Master Hand had joined the group and was now consoling Ink and Ika, explaining that they had known about their condition in advanced, and had prepared for it.

"How?"

"I'm a giant reality warping hand." Master Hand replied as he snapped his fingers. "There, you can now swim in water and not dissolve now. Of course that's only while you're here, when you return to your world, well, those protections will be removed, so be careful."

Ink and Ika just looked nervously outside. Reluctantly Ink began to stretch out his hand, and let the rain water fall on. He initially recalled his hand in shock, however after a second of realizing that nothing had happened, he put his hand out again, letting a constant stream of water fall on it. Several seconds later he just ran out into the rain. He stretched out his arms and just got drenched.

Ika hesitated for a few seconds but eventually she also ran out into the rain.

The other Smashers began to exit the ship, however Shulk just stopped Master Hand and Lucas. "Shulk, what's the matter?"

Shulk just pointed to Ness. "He is."

Master Hand just sighed. "He's being so problematic..."

"You knew?"

Master Hand just nodded. "Lucas, can I task you with something?"

"Yes, of course!" Lucas replied.

"You're Ness' best friend here, can you talk to him about this. Try and get him to stop acting like this." Master Hand said.

Lucas just nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Shulk just glanced at Master Hand. "I know you said to keep quiet about a few things, but I think that's causing more harm than good right now, especially with Ness. Perhaps you should speed up things."

"You might be right." Master Hand replied. "But it might be a day or two before I can do some things..."

"Anyways, I think I'm just going to leave him here." Shulk said. "I can't say I feel like carrying him back to the mansion."

"Fair enough."

* * *

 **I didn't know what to write. I wanted the Inklings dissolving in water to come out and the basic scenario played out in my head, but there was nothing I could really do to expand upon it...**

 **I originally had Ness saying to Shulk: "I don't think you know what it's like, losing friends." in that confrontation towards the end, but I just felt that it would have escalated way too quickly with that line. And it just really felt really out of place.  
**


	6. Chapter 6: Welcome

**Smash is about to release and there's still no "Inkling" option on the character select for this section...**

* * *

Chapter 6: Welcome

When Ness came to, he was lying on a reclining chair in the Pleiades. He just looked around confused, trying to figure out what happened. He slowly began to get up however soon noticed that he was handcuffed to the chair.

"What the?! Who did this!? Why do we even have handcuffs?!"

* * *

They group had made it to the Smash Mansion. Waiting for them at the entrance was a wireframe that was currently holding a bunch of towels. "Well, I'm sorry about that." Master Hand said. "Please, dry yourself off."

Ink, and Ika just grabbed the towels.

"Didn't you just finish explaining that you were a giant reality warping hand?" Mythra wondered. "Couldn't you just snap your fingers and cause it to stop raining, or snap your fingers and immediately dry us?"

Master Hand just laughed. "Well, I mean, I could. But you see, I just simply chose not to."

"You completely forgot that you could do that, didn't you?" Mythra wondered.

"No, there were other reasons." Master Hand replied. "Anyways, welcome to the Smash Mansion. Please enjoy your stay for the next two nights. Guests, please enter first."

Ink, Ika, Rex and Mythra just opened the door and stepped into the main foyer. "Welcome!" Several voices shouted. Confetti fell down upon them. They just looked around at the various people and creatures that were standing around.

"Here are several of the Smashers." Master Hand said. "There's a few others who are bringing over some more potential newcomres, and they'll be here later tonight, so please get acquainted with them."

Lucas just walked in and over to Ink and Ika, knowing that Ness would be a while, he also realized that he'd have to take the lead. "Well, I guess I have just introduce you to my friends, and possible future colleagues."

"Yeah..." Ink said, suddenly rather nervous.

"Don't worry, most of us are super friendly." Lucas replied. "You'll fit right in pretty quickly."

"You sure?"

"Positive, come on, let's introduce you guys!" Lucas walked up to a boy wearing green and had large cat like eyes. "This is Toon Link. Toon, this is Ink and Ika, two inklings."

"The one Ness was talking about?" Ink asked.

"Um, yeah..." Lucas nervously laughed.

"Ness was talking about me?" Toon Link wondered. "What did he say about me?"

"Just that you're a prankster." Lucas replied. "Anyways, next person!" Beside Toon Link was another, a boy with short brown hair and a large red t-shirt with the number 1 on it. "This is Villager."

"Speaking of, where is Ness?" Toon Link wondered.

"He got sick on the way back." Lucas quickly replied.

"Oh." Toon Link replied rather shocked.

"That's not like him." Villager said.

"Yeah."

"Anyways, I guess we should give you a tour!" Lucas said. "Drop some stuff off at your rooms. Then just show you around, and then afterwards we can play some games. Or see some other newcomers as they arrive."

"Yeah, there's supposed to be a welcoming banquet, and a meet and greet, in the main hall." Villager said. "But, they've been keeping the door closed while several people set up."

"Well then, let's show you guys around." Lucas said.

They just walked up the stairs going to the dorms where they'd be staying. Lucas just looked at the list and it seemed like Ika would be sleeping in a room with Mythra, and someone else who had yet to arrive.

While Ink was bunking it with him and Ness. They just deposited their bags, and gave a small tour. Occasionally they would hear more cheers coming from the main foyer as more people arrived. Including one who they could hear breaking into song.

As they were concluding the tour of at least the main places including the kitchen, a gym, and indoor pool, they just entered the TV room and claimed it for themselves, at that moment Ness had finally caught up. He was still soaking wet, and lot looking too pleased.

"I finally found you guys!" Ness shouted, gasping for air. "I was running all over, looking everywhere for you!"

"Hey Ness! Feeling better?" Toon Link wondered.

Ness just glanced at Toon Link a bit confused. "I guess." Ness replied.

"You better actually dry off, if you're not feeling well." Toon Link suggested. "You don't want to catch a cold."

Ness just closed his eyes, and a moment later he was completely dry.

"Anyways, we were just about to sit down and watch a movie until they called us into the banquet hall. Wanna join us?" Toon Link wondered.

"Yeah sure." Ness sighed.

"Just give us a few seconds while you decide on the movie!" Lucas said. He just got up and pushed Ness out into the hallway away from the prying ears.

"Hey, Luke, what's going on?" Ness nervously began to laugh.

"I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff." Lucas replied. "Like how you're acting."

Ness just looked a bit shocked. "I don't know what you're talking about. Actually, why were they saying I was sick?"

"It's what I told them, because I didn't want to say that the kid smasher who has been here the longest was acting like an idiot and had to be knocked unconscious." Lucas replied.

"What for?" Ness replied.

"Ness, you need to listen to yourself, you were essentially threatening death upon them."

"I was?"

"You were! Telling them about Toon Link's pranks and..."

"No I wasn't, I was simply warning them of the dangers that they'll face here." Ness replied. "Speaking of which, I never mentioned the fans."

"What? But Ness- You're playing dumb-"

Taking advantage of Lucas' moment of frustration, Ness just slipped past him and went back into the TV room.

"Ah great timing!" Toon Link said. "We decided on the movie!"

"Great I can't wait to see what it is!" Ness laughed.

"Oh, it's a classic!" Toon Link replied, holding up the case.

Ness just did his best to hide back his laughter. He knew Toon Link and Villager all too well. How they convinced the inklings to watch this, would probably remain a mystery. Thankfully Lucas wasn't in the room to say anything and reveal their plan. " _Looks like we'll be sleeping with the nightlight on for the next week or two._ " Ness thought to himself.

What Toon Link and Villager had picked, was a horror movie. It was set in a spaceship and a hostile alien had got on board, and it quickly began slaughtering all of the crew in a rather gruesome fashion.

"Don't you think that movie is a bit too big to show here?" Ness teased.

Toon Link just burst out into laughter. "Nah."

Ness sat down on the couch and Lucas followed, not even looking up at the DVD case that Toon was holding. Within a minute, they were watching the movie. However, they only got through the opening credits when suddenly they heard the broadcast throughout the mansion.

"Attention everyone, please come to the banquet hall where we can all greet those who will be joining us for this open house!"

"Oh come on!" Toon Link shouted. "I just got comfortable!"

"Agreed." Lucas said.

They made their way to the banquet hall and just got in. It was strangely crowded. "And here we have the last two of our new possible inductees!" Master Hand said over a speaker system. "Introducing the Inklings, Ink and Ika!"

Two spotlights were on the two Inklings, and people began to clap. Ika just immediately shot her fist up into the air, and Ink just looked around a bit confused and lost in the moment.

"Well, that introduces everyone so far." Master Hand replied. "I wish you all luck, and I hope you all enjoy yourselves. Help yourselves to the food, but save some room because dessert is next!"

"Let's go claim a table then go up." Toon Link suggested.

They all just nodded in agreement. They quickly found a table that hadn't been claimed, and just watched as the line for the buffet died down. While Toon Link, and Villager had been talking to Ink and Ika, Ness was just scanning the room looking for anything that he could use.

And then his eyes focused on a large purple monster. Ness just had a devilish smile. " _Yes! Ridley!_ " he thought. " _We'll scare them away this way!_ "

Ridley had just stood up and was walking over to the buffet table. Seeing this Ness just stood up. "All right guys, let's go get food!"

They walked up, both of the inklings were too distracted, and just looking around at all of the other Smashers, who were either standing around and talking, or had already gotten food and were eating.

Ness used this moment to his advantage, and just gave them a small push using his psychic powers. The two of them were caught off guard and not expecting it, and immediately tripped and fell down right in front of the giant space dragon. As their eyes began to trail up and come into focus of it's form, they were overcome with fear.

Ridley just looked down at them trying to figure out what happened. And then he opened his mouth.

"Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry." Ridley said, bending down and stretching out his hand to help the Inklings up. The two Inklings were just confused. "Sorry about that, I must of tripped you up with my tail. It has a mind of it's own sometimes."

Ness was just staring at Ridley completely dumbstruck. This did not play out at all how he planned it. "Huh? Wait, what?!"

"Is something wrong? You seem confused?" Ridley asked.

"You're nothing like the stage hazard!"

"Oh that animatronic, of course not." Ridley laughed. "It was just acting out one of my many roles."

"Roles?" Ika questioned.

"You see, I'm a classically trained actor. But work is hard to find, especially when you look like this."

"Really? I mean weren't there those whole my boyfriend is actually a monster movies a few years back?" Toon Link wondered. "You could have always found work there."

"Oh god no!" Ridley replied. "I'm not that desperate. Well, I'd do what work I can get, but I have standards. Well, I better go eat this food, don't want it to get cold, now do I?" Ridley just walked away. Ness just stood there, frozen in place. He could only watch as he went to a table where Ganondorf and Bowser were sitting. Immediately Ridley put a napkin around his neck to act like a bib. He just picked up a fork and knife, and immediately began to cut into some steak. It was just contrary to every way he thought that Ridley would act. The mental image he had was Ridley having the steak whole, using his teeth to just rip into it and not caring at all about his appearance or proper table etiquette.

The rest of the Smash kids had just passed by Ness and went to get their food. "Hey, Ness, might want to get some food before it's all gone." Samus said, having come over and just tapped Ness on the shoulder to get him out of his daze.

Ness just looked at Samus rather shocked. "That's Ridley?" He eventually said dumbstruck.

"Yes, that's the real Ridley." Samus sighed. "Why did you think I didn't want him here?"

"Because you're mortal enemies, and he killed your parents right in front of you?" Ness questioned.

"Okay, 1, we're actors. 2, that was sloppy a retcon added in 15 years after the fact." Samus said rather annoyed.

"So why didn't you want him here?" Ness asked.

"Because I was respecting his wishes, and he wanted to pursue his acting career." Samus replied.

"Really?"

Master Hand just floated down from his table. "Samus!" He said.

"Hello, Master Hand." Samus muttered a bit annoyed. "So what did you do to get Ridley here?"

"Nothing much, just showed him the large stacks of cash that corporate was willing to pay for someone as big as him!" Master Hand laughed. "Isn't it great, no one will be able to direct hate mail to me this time!"

"Oh, I'm sure there is something that corporate will do that will piss people off." Samus sighed. "Any other surprises?"

"Well, since you asked, there's also a second newcomer from your series..." Master Hand said.

Samus just looked at Master Hand rather shocked. "Second newcomer?"

"Why, yes, the fans were asking for someone else from your series, and I found just the person."

"Who?"

Master Hand snapped his fingers and the room dimmed. A single spotlight appeared and floating in the middle of the room, underneath that spotlight, was a creature that looked like Samus, however it was in a black suit of armor and glowed with an eerie blue light. The suit seemed to have veins. The creature just let off a scream that seemed like it came from a dimension of eternal torment, where all the inhabitants screamed for salvation that never came.

From it's body, tentacles began to materialize and reach towards the Smashers who were either stunned, or just eating their food without a care in the world.

Samus just looked at Master Hand rather shocked. "You invited Dark Samus here?!"

"Yes."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Invited your dark clone here?" Master Hand replied.

Samus just raised her arm cannon and began to rapidly fire at Dark Samus. Several other Smashers quickly clued in that this creature was actually dangerous and quickly began to attack it, causing it to withdraw and try to defend itself. Realizing that something was wrong Master Hand snapped his fingers and contained Dark Samus in a barrier.

"My dark clone, is a cosmic horror that stole a suit I wore!" Samus replied. "It's not human or anything. It's a threat to the entire universe. And it was dead! And only the way to kill it required destroying all phazon in the universe!"

Ness just looked a bit confused. "Wait, I thought that was all just a movie."

"It may or may not have been based upon real events." Samus replied, she just focused her attention back at Master Hand. "Just what were you thinking?!"

Master Hand just began to float away, to try and get away from Samus. Unfortunately for him, she followed and continued to chew him out.

Not having anything else to distract him, Ness finally went to get food, eventually getting back to the table to rejoin his friends.

Lucas was just glaring at him. But no one actually noticed. Ink and Ika were just laughing and talking with Toon Link and Villager in between eating food.

Ness figured now was a good time as any to bring up something else. "Hey, Ika, Ink, I didn't tell you about the fans earlier!"

Ika's eyes suddenly lit up. "The fans?"

"Yeah, when you become a Smasher, you'll become pretty famous!" Ness replied. "And well, everyone has their own fan club!"

"Really! That's great!" Ika said. "I've wanted to be famous. I just thought it would be through Turf Wars!"

"Well, being famous does have it's dark side." Ness admitted. "The first probably being the paparazzi, always following you around, waiting for their next big scandal and hoping your just one bad incident away from a mental breakdown."

"Well, seems like they're not allowed in here, and security is pretty tight." Ika pointed out.

"Yeah, but they have their ways." Ness said pointing out the window and over to a tree off of the property. Concealed in it was someone with binoculars and a camera with a telescopic lens. Ika actually had to pull out her charger's scope to double check if she was seeing things correctly.

"How did you know that?" Ika questioned.

"I could sense them." Ness admitted. He just walked over to the blinds and closed them, blocking some of the view of the room from the outside.

Master Hand realized what was going on and just snapped his fingers, the rest of the blinds were instantly closed. "Excuse me everyone, Crazy Hand and I are going to go wipe some memories, and destroy some cameras. We certainly don't want any of our new potential Smashers to leak out early, do we?" He quickly flew away.

"Don't think I'm done talking with you!" Samus shouted at the hand as he gout out of there.

"Well, that's rather pointless." Ness muttered. "They always find a way to leak out."

Lucas just nodded in agreement. "Yeah, imagine finding out you're no longer employed, not by them telling you personally, but by the leaks..."

"Yeah, that really sucked." Toon Link added on.

"Well, anyways, going back to the paparazzi if we don't act any differently than we normally would, they'd have nothing." Ink pointed out.

"Yeah, true, but they will heckle you, and ridicule you." Ness replied. "They don't care about your well being. If you're stressed out because of a losing streak, and they notice, they will try and push your buttons to get you to snap and try and attack them. All so they can get a good story, or sue, and get a good settlement."

"Well, turf wars are pretty stressful, I think we can keep our cool." Ika replied.

"Yeah. It seems like there's a lot to do here to help us keep calm out there." Ink added on.

"Well, the paparazzi is only one part of being famous." Ness replied. "Then there's the fans. Sure you've got the good ones, but boy are there a lot of creepy fans."

"What do you mean by that?" Ink wondered.

Ness just reached over and pulled Lucas over to him, quickly following it up with wrapping his arm around Lucas' neck and just resting it there."Ink, my man... my squid? Have you ever heard of yaoi?"

"No." Ink replied.

"YES!?" Ika suddenly shouted rather excited. The whole room went dead silent, and just turned their heads to them. It was so silent that they were actually able to hear the unfortunate paparazzi outside now screaming as Master Hand and Crazy Hand confronted them.

Ness was actually rather taken back by the sudden shriek of excitement from Ika. "Well... um... I guess there's various fans who read way too much into things and think that certain people are romantically involved even if they are the same gender."

Ink just stared blankly. "Why would that be an issue?" He asked rather confused.

"Ness, you do realize that squids are bisexual." Lucas muttered.

Ness just looked at Lucas rather confused. "Really?"

"Look it up." Lucas replied.

"Anyways, it just gets a bit well, off putting if you're not prepared for it, and people can go into a bit graphic detail. Or draw it..."

Ika's eyes were filled with stars. "Oh yes they can..." She muttered.

Ness just flinched, realizing that this probably just backfired on him. "Just, be prepared for you to be shipped with everyone. And everyone thinks you have romantic chemistry with someone, even if you hate their guts. And I guess knowing that there's stuff out there either written or drawn of you getting it on."

"Well, that's harmless, right..." Ink replied. "Just let them have their fun."

"True." Ness replied. He took a bite out of some of his food and just looked around. "Well, actually, let's see who do you think they'd be paired with?"

Lucas just hung his head in embarrassment. "Oh no. Why are we talking about this."

"Toon and Villager are a pretty common pairing, same with myself and Lucas." Ness said. "Going by the Corrins and Robins you could be paired with each other..."

"How do you know so much about this?" Ink wondered.

"Well, there's so much downtime between matches and stuff, and you kind of get to see some reactions and people have no problem sending you this stuff." Ness replied.

"What he's trying to say is a very dangerous combination of boredom and curiosity brought on by puberty." Lucas replied.

"Hey!" Ness shouted offended. "Luke!"

"Plus we may have dared each other to look up stuff once or twice." Toon Link replied. "You won't believe that people constantly portray Villager here as an axe murder!"

"They were calling him the Killager!"

"By the way, what kind of name is Villager?" Ika wondered.

"I don't know. What kind of name is Squid?" Villager replied.

"Touche." Ika muttered.

Their small talk continued, and they it wasn't long until they made their way up to the dessert table, and just began to eat whatever they could.

"I'm stuffed!" Ink said.

"Same!"

"Ness, what about you?" Toon Link wondered. "You ate quite a bit, with your upset stomach, you probably shouldn't have ate so much..."

Ness just laughed, but a moment later just stood up. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He said just quickly running off.

Villager just looked over at Lucas. "Is something the matter?" He asked.

"Why would you ask that?" Lucas wondered.

"Well just seems like you and Ness aren't acting the same." Villager replied.

"Oh that..." Lucas replied. "I'll talk to him a bit later."

Out in the halls Ness just laughed. He'd have to talk to Lucas later about that little lie that he told, but it at least allowed him to do this.

"My what a wonderful meal." A voice said. "I think I'm ready to retire for the night."

Exiting out of the banquet hall was Ridley. Ness just laughed and quickly ran up to him.

"Ridley, are you really going to bed?" Ness said.

"Why yes, unfortunately due to time zone differences I've been up well over 24 hours, so I need get to sleep." Ridley replied. "Especially if I want to be up for tomorrow's events."

"Right." Ness said. "Listen, Ridley, I'm sorry but where you're sleeping during this open house has been changed."

"What?!" Ridley said rather shocked.

"Yeah, unfortunately something happened in the room that you were supposed to be in, so I'm going to lead you to your new room."

He just lead Ridley towards the room that Ika was staying in. He just opened the door and let Ridley in.

"Oh perfect!" Ridley said. "Thank you young boy!"

"Not a problem, just choose a bed, and get ready." Ness said.

"Of course!" Ridley laughed. He just suddenly began to crawl under a bed and curl up into a ball.

Ness just looked rather shocked. Ridley poked his head out from underneath the bed's dress. "What? Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all!" Ness replied.

"Well then, please close the door, the lights from the hallway are keeping me up." Ridley said.

"Ah, okay." Ness managed to say.

He just closed the door and was trying to process what had just happened. He was hoping that Ika would go into the room and see Ridley there and start screaming. Just being so afraid, that she'd quit being in the Smashers on the spot.

Confused, he just walked back down to the banquet hall, where things were still going on.

The Kid Smashers were still at their table, just finishing up some last bit of dessert. "Well, I guess we can probably go watch the rest of that movie now." Toon Link said. "Anyone up for it?"

"No, not yet." Ink said. "I think I need the food to settle first."

"Yeah," mostly everyone agreed.

Master Hand just floated over to the mic. "And now it's time for a bonding exercise!" Master Hand laughed. "Suggested by none other than the prospective newcomer King K. Rool! It's time for some Karaoke!"

Walking up on the stage was a large green crocodile. "Thank you, thank you!" He said, with a microphone in his hand. It became quite clear that he may of had a bit too much to drink as he stumbled forwards. "Let's get this night started with some famous show tunes!"

"On second thought, let's get out of here." Ink said.

"Agreed!" The Kid Smashers replied, quickly shooting up and getting out of the banquet hall. Several of them picked up the pace as they heard K. Rool starting to start singing and slur the words together in a drunken haze.

They just got to the TV room and just immediately started watching where they had left off.

Toon Link, being the joker that he was had actually chosen a horror movie. Although most of the initial scare had actually lost it's impact when they saw that the monster was Ridley.

"Actually meeting him in person kind of lessened the impact." Toon Link muttered.

"Yeah."

Despite that, Ridley in the movie still managed to be terrifying. Especially during numerous kills.

When it was over, they just were sitting in shocked silence.

Ika was doing her best to try and show that the movie didn't scare her. "Well, are there any others?" She asked.

Toon Link however began to yawn. "Nah. I'm getting tired." He said. "We should all head up to bed."

"Right!"

Most of them got up. Lucas however just grabbed Ness' wrist as he began to get up. "Ness, can we talk for a few seconds?" Lucas asked.

Ness just looked rather shocked at Lucas. "I guess." he said.

They just watched as the other four walked out of the room. Lucas just grabbed the TV remote, and switched the channel to some cartoons. When he was sure that no one was actually listening he just turned to Ness.

"Ness, what's wrong!?" Lucas asked. "You're not normally like this! You can say anything to me, right? I thought we were friends?"

Ness was just shaking.

"We are." Ness replied.

"Then what's wrong? Why were you acting this way to Ink and Ika?"

"I'm scared." Ness replied. "It's going to happen again. That you're not going to be here for the tournament, or I'm going to be the only kid smasher after this is said and done, and they're just the flavor of the month. Here for this one, but gone the next tournament!"

Lucas just nodded. "I get it." he weakly muttered. "Honestly, I'm dreading it too, that it's just going to be like last time. I just get a late letter of we want you back."

"I can't take much more of this." Ness cried. "And we're supposed to show them around?! And then what if we're abandoned next."

"Let's just not think about that." Lucas said. "We have the whole weekend ahead, and we have to show them all there is about being a Smasher."

"Yeah." Ness muttered.

"Besides, even if you were let go, or I was again, I'm sure you could visit the farm."

"Yeah. And I don't think my folks would mind you visiting."

"So, Ness, why don't you just stop what you're doing before you end up doing something and regretting it."

"Yeah, you're right... Oh no." Ness muttered.

"What's 'oh no'?"

"Nothing." Ness laughed. "Let's just get to bed."

* * *

Several hours later, Ika was having difficulty sleeping. She was hearing sounds, it seemed like muffled snoring. She looked over to the bed that Mythra had started the night in. A bit earlier she had gotten up and left the room but didn't return leaving Ika alone.

"Mythra?" Ika said, calling out, hoping that she had just missed her coming back in. She turned on the light, and the other two beds in the room were abandoned.

Eventually she just checked underneath the bed, and let out a blood curdling scream.

* * *

 **I'm kind of getting the feeling that I'm just moving closer and closer towards a Crack Fic with some of this.**

 **Ridley and Dark Samus - Ridley I just thought it would be funnier if he was an actor. Dark Samus, it was funnier to me if it was the cosmic horror that is Metroid Prime/Dark Samus actually there and Master Hand/Corporate didn't actually do their research on just what Dark Samus actually was and just saw it as another Metroid rep. Which I mean as game characters in a fighting game, it works and isn't actually an issue, but in the fanfiction setting of everyone living under one roof at the Smash Mansion, it** ** **kind of falls apart**.  
**

 **King K. Rool - I actually have little to no attachment to the Donkey Kong Country series… And most of my exposure to it was DK64… and that Canadian Donkey Kong Country CGI cartoon. (And I guess I did play some of Returns and Tropical Freeze) But anyways, that's why King K. Rool has an attachment to show tunes and singing…**


	7. Chapter 7: Good Morning!

Chapter 7: Good Morning!

When Ink woke up, he was in his bed. However much to his shock he wasn't alone. There was Mythra who was also sleeping in his bed. He just backed up rather surprised, falling off of the bed in the process.

However the sound that he made caused Mythra to wake up. Her eyes bolted open and she just looked around confused. Eventually seeing Ink standing on the ground.

"You?! When did you? What are you doing in my bed?!" Mythra just quickly began to reach for any loose object that she could find and just threw them. "Get out! You pervert!"

Ink just did his best to dodge each attack. "What are you talking about!" He shouted. "You're the one who came into this room! It's Ness' and Lucas'."

Their shouting had caused Ness and Lucas to wake up. They were now both just sitting on their bed with a bad case of bedhead trying to asess the situation.

Mythra just stopped throwing the objects and let it sink in. "Oh no, not again." She muttered just walking out of the room, leaving it in an awkward silence.

"Again!?" Ink questioned

"What just happened?" Ness asked rather confused.

"I guess Mythra was sleep walking..." Lucas replied.

"What really?" Ness muttered. "Well whatever, let's just get this day overwith and go down for breakfast."

The three got dressed, and walked out into the hallways. There were a few who were still groggy, and had been woken up from Mythra's shouting. A few didn't bother to say anything, but Rex quickly rushed up to Mythra.

"Mythra, you were sleep walking again?!" Rex said a bit surprised.

"Again?" Ink said surprised. "You mean this has happened before."

"Y-"

"Rex, shut up!" Mythra quickly snapped.

Rex just laughed.

"What's all this racket, it's far too early for this!" Master Hand said floating through the hallway. "Some of the other Smashers were complaining about the noise and we all know how Ganondorf is if he doesn't get his beauty sleep. Did one of Toon Link's pranks go awry again?"

"No," Rex replied. "It's already over, Mythra just woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

The giant glove just looked at Mythra shocked. "Just look at that!? What are you in!?"

"Do you even have eyes?" Mythra asked.

"Your costume is completely not appropriate!" Master Hand announced. "There are children here!"

"You know for having a fighting tournament where children fight each other, you have really skewed priorities." Mythra replied.

"It's not me, it's corporate." Master Hand muttered.

"Corporate?" Rex questioned.

"Oh trust me, you will learn to hate them as much as I do." Master Hand replied. "You will, you will..."

"Uh huh..."

"Anyways, let's just get that cleaned up!" He snapped his fingers and suddenly Mythra's bare legs were covered by black tights. "Now the, everyone go get breakfast."

They made their way down to the dinning hall, much to their shock, Ika was already there. Currently she was eating some cereal, while glued to her phone, occasionally scrolling down the page. The others just went to a buffet table to get food, and made their way to Ika. She greeted them with a yawn.

"You seem tired." Ink said

"No duh. I was up all night reading."

"Really?"

"Yes!" Ika replied. "Plus I couldn't sleep."

"Due to excitement?"

"No. The monster under the bed…" Ika replied.

"The monster under the bed…" Ink asked confused.

Ness just went white.

"Anyways, it's not important, the point is I couldn't sleep, so I decided to start reading a bunch of stuff."

"And that kept you awake the whole time?" Ink questioned.

She just shoved her phone in front of Ink's face. "I mean look at this. Lucas is a pained Freshman, struggling with losing his mother and brother from a tragic accident during the summer break unsure if his wounds will ever heal, and the hole in his heart will ever be filled. While Ness is a somophore, and already the star baseball player for the high school team who despite his success feels empty. The two meet by chance and discover love!" Ika shouted. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Uhh sure?" Ink replied a little weirded out.

"It just grabbed me and I couldn't put it down." Ika replied. "And there's so many more such as Ness and Lucas being soldiers conscripted to opposing sides of a war and-"

"You do realize that the people they're basing these stories on are sitting right across from us at the table?" Ink muttered.

"Urgh! Who writes this crap?" Ness replied. "It's really creepy to find yourself as the subject of this, to be honest."

"Ness, you just don't understand love."

"Yes, I'm sure a teenager fully understands how love works." Ness muttered.

"Ness, if you ever need to talk to sort through your feelings, I'll be here for you." Ika said.

"It's too early in the morning for this." Ness muttered.

"It's too early in the morning for what?" A voice said. "We came out here super early in the morning and you're being super mopey Ness."

Ness just turned to see two familiar people dressed in a purple and a pink parka. "Nana?! Popo!? What are you doing here?"

"So, are you just going to sit there staring or are you going to introduce us to them?" Nana wondered.

"Well, this is Ika, and this is Ink!" Ness said. "Ika, Ink, they are Nana and Popo, and they're former Smashers. So what are you guys here for? Are you helping with the open house? Are you helping some people getting dropped getting reoriented with the free life?"

Nana and Popo just glanced at each other and laughed.

"Ness, we need to talk, just the three of us." Popo said, just dragging Ness away.

Lucas let off a small sigh. "Thankfully he seems better today."

"Yeah. What was with him yesterday?" Ink asked.

"Stressed out about things." Lucas replied.

"Probably puberty." Ika replied.

Lucas just laughed. "Probably."

Ness just came running back to the table, tripping over his own two feet in excitement. He just sat down, and quickly began to inhale his food. "All right, we've got places to be, things to do! Come on, let's go guys!"

Lucas just looked at his omelet that he had yet to even get a bite out of. "Ness..."

"Lucas, less talking, more eating come on! Go! Go! Go!"

"Okay, I think I liked him a bit better when he was grumpy." Ika whispered.

Waiting for his friends to finish, Ness just looked around the room. Floating by the door was Master Hand just checking in that everyone was okay.

He just walked up to Master Hand. "So, Master Hand..." Ness began.

"Oh no." Master Hand muttered dreading this. "What is it Ness?"

"When were you going to actually say that everyone was coming back?" Ness wondered.

Master Hand just breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's about that. Well, officially, at that one conference B3 or whatever it was called. But yes, I see you've talked with Nana and Popo then."

"Yeah, who else is here?"

"Well, we have others that we've invited to this open house." Master Hand said. "There were a few that couldn't make it yesterday due to other obligations, but we're expecting them today."

"Great." Ness laughed. "All right."

Villager had just entered into the room, and made his way up to the food table. "Hey, Villager!" Ness said rushing up to him. "What are your plans for today?"

"No idea." Villager replied. "Master Hand did tell me something about showing a newcomer around, but never introduced me to them, and they didn't show up yesterday so I guess I'm free."

"Great, you can hang out with us, and our newcomers that we're showing around."

"That sounds like fun." Villager replied.

Ness and Villager just walked back to the table. They sat down, and Ness just waited patiently for everyone to finish eating. Ink was currently explaining a few things from back at Inkopolis, and this one cafe that he liked eating at. "And their cheese cake is to die for. It just instantly melts in your mouth!"

"Have you tried the Splatcake's Chocolate cake?" Ika wondered.

Ink shook his head. "No, that place is too exclusive. You have to be S rank to enter, right?"

"Yeah." Ika sighed. "A friend got me some once. It was so rich. But I really love this one place's fruit tart. The fruits are so fresh."

"I'll have to bring back some of the fruits that grow in my village next time I'm there." Villager said. "Maybe we can get the wire frames to make some with it."

"Wire frames?"

"They're like the butlers and maids here." Ness replied. "They clean up, they cook."

"That's great!" Ink laughed. "I could get used to it."

"Well, don't get too used to it." Nana sternly said. "Otherwise you'll end up like Popo here if you're ever let go."

As they continued talking and eating, they stopped paying attention to who was entering into the room.

As they were just all about done eating food, and getting ready to get up. A voice suddenly called out from behind Villager. "Mr. Mayor!"

Villager suddenly went white. "Oh no..." He muttered. He just began to turn around to come face to face with his assistant Isabelle. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here because of the open house." Isabelle replied. "Plus you have been slacking off on your mayoral duties. So, I'm here to-"

Villager just began to look for a way to escape from the table. "Guys, it was nice knowing you, if our paths ever cross again it will be too soon." Villager quickly said, he got up and began to walk away however he suddenly felt a paw on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Mayor?" Isabelle questioned. Ink and Ika couldn't help but feel that there was an extremely threatening tone behind her sweet voice. Even if it was just for a split second, they could sense a sudden burst of intensity rivaling that of a ranked X inkling. "Master Hand has told me that you're going to be showing me around."

Villager just turned to Ness and Lucas, only mouthing the words "help me." before being dragged off by Isabelle.

Everyone was just stunned into silence. "Well then, that was some good food." Rex said. "I could get used to this."

Ness just nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty great. Anyways, we've got a schedule and have got to do some stuff so, let's go!"

* * *

A little while later, Master Hand had retreated into his office. "Things are finally going well." He said, just floating there, holding a tea cup.

There was a suddenly a knock at the door. "Come in."

The door opened, and in walked Villager, and Isabelle. "And this is Master Hand's office." Villager said.

Isablle just looked around. "I see." She just approached Master Hand, out of nowhere she pulled out a wrapped gift. "I also work behind a desk most of my days, so I know what it's like. I have a friend from the Happy Room Academy and well, she has taught me a few things about Feng Shui, and how it helps improve your life. And how just even having a simple potted plant on your desk can improve your work efficiency and output. So, I had also brought this potted plant as a thank you gift."

She handed the wrapped gift to Master Hand. He just unwrapped it and placed the terracotta pot on the table. The plant inside had a long green stem, two large healthy leaves, and then a giant bulb on the top that was red with various white polka dots. It also had giant spiked fangs.

Master Hand just floated there behind his desk, trying to take in the presence of the Piranha Plant. "Thank you, I don't know what to say."

"I hope this will help improve your life and your surroundings." Isabelle cheerfully said.

Master Hand just floated there.

"Of course it likes lots of water, and sunlight." She added on.

"Thank you." Master Hand replied.

"Well then, I better get going." Isabelle said, as she walked out of the room.

Villager just followed. He briefly turned to Master Hand and shot him a glare, also mouthing 'this is all your fault' however the Hand ignored it.

Instead Master Hand was transfixed and staring at the Piranha Plant. After several seconds of silence, Master Hand just burst out into excitement. "She's a genius! No one will see it coming! You are perfect! I love you!"

Master Hand couldn't see it, but the Piranha Plant just began to blush.

However, Master Hand's good mood was about to get a very, very, unwanted phone call.

The phone on his desk began to ring, with an all too familiar ring tone. It was of a funeral march, and one he had assigned to know when Corporate was calling. Reluctantly the giant hand picked it up. "Hello." He waited several seconds. "Well, the open house is looking great, and several of the prospects are looking really hopeful!"

"Well, there's the Inklings, they look like they're enjoying it. There's Isabelle who everyone loves. And then there's Rex."

"What do you mean who's Rex?" Master Hand said a bit surprised. "No, not the dinosaur from that one movie... The main character from Xenoblade Chronicles 2."

"What do you mean he's not in the cards?!"

"What do you mean you never accounted for the lack of time between tournaments, and thought that there should have been some resources available in case one or two more people showed up with the potential to be a Smasher?!"

"What do you mean poor timing and it was announced after planning had started?! Development of that game started in 2014, while yours started in 2016, and should have been a known factor! This has never been an issue before!"

"What do you mean his design was finalized too late from the initial decision for this tournament?! Roy and Marth aren't exactly in their normal clothing. Greninja was created from concept art!"

"Yes, of course I'm angry! This has literally never been an issue before this point!"

"Well, yes I can prove it, there's Roy, Greninja, and perhaps most recently and most importantly what you're saying you want an Incineroar!"

Master Hand just grunted in frustration.

"Gee, if only we had access to a studio that we've known for taking their staff members and creating assets in games and assisting like they have in the past with Brawl, Skyward Sword, and Animal Crossing New Leaf… I just don't know where we're going to find one of those… If only they were also conveniently tied to him."

"You know people aren't going to be happy about this."

"A Mii costume?! You think that is going to quell people's anger?! Do you not understand that people don't like the Mii's, and that anything less than their favorite character in Smash is seen as an insult to them?"

"I'm not happy about this, I'm wasting time and resources with an open house here!"

"I understand, good bye."

Master Hand just slammed the phone down, shattering it in the process. "I don't get paid enough for this shit." He muttered. He just proceeded to punch a hole right into the wall. "And after Ness decided to stop acting like a little shit, what am I supposed to do now?! ARGH!"

Crazy Hand just flew into the room. "Brother, is that screams of anguish I hear?"

"Yes, corporate did something stupid again." Master Hand grumbled.

"Oh, well, good luck with that!" Crazy Hand replied flying away.

Master Hand however just grabbed Crazy Hand, stopping him. "Before you go, dear brother, I've got an errand for you."

"Oh? What is it?" Crazy Hand wondered.

"I need you to find an Incineroar." Master Hand replied.

"An Incineroar?" Crazy Hand questioned. "What is that?"

"Well a cat like pokemon that controls fire." Master Hand replied. "Known for being yet another bipedal fire type."

"Okay, I shall find you one!" Crazy Hand said.

Master Hand just produced a letter with the Smash Logo as a wax seal and gave it to his brother. Crazy Hand took and and flew away.

"Why does this have to be so troublesome." He turned his attention to the Piranha Plant on the desk. "I'm so sorry you had to see that. You don't deserve that, you're perfect."

* * *

However, Master Hand's bursts of frustration didn't go unnoticed. In the vents there was a yellow squid. It just quickly began to go through the vents, until eventually it got to the laundry room.

"This is Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, reporting in on the case of the squidnapping of two Inklings. I have remained undetected in the stronghold of those responsible. At the current time, the subjects are safe, however due to the one who I suspect is the leader and their sudden burst of anger, and unpredictable nature, I'm not sure for how long. I will continue to look for a way to extract the squidnapped Inklings."

She ended her report, and just let off a heavy sigh. There was no response. She was too far away from home.

"Pichu, pichu, pichu!" A strange yellow and black creature was crying out. She had tied it up with a cable. This strange creature reminded her of a Zapfish. Occasionally she'd reach over and try to pet it, however the creature would just discharge some electricity to ward her away.

She just fell back into a pile of clothes that she had made into a rather comfortable chair. "How did I get into this mess." She muttered.

* * *

 **I feel like I really jumped the gun with creating this whole story... The focus is on everybody but the Inklings... Ah well.**


End file.
